On the Crest of Finals

Drawing Structure and Expression II:

            Our last class was yesterday. We finished our self portraits. I came in an hour early just to make sure all three of my pieces would be done. This was good considering I finished the third one just as class was ending. I would not have been able to fit it in elsewhere this week so that was fortunate. As for my portraits, I had a dilemma about what to put in the background and ended up incorporating fish. I use fish as a symbol generally. I tied both my self and the fish together by using the same color palette. The three also tell a narrative when placed from left to right. On Monday, we moved our crit an hour earlier than normal class time. Gabe also asked me to present first, so I have to make sure I’m there by 8:30 to set up.  

Advanced Painting:

            Linda told us she wants five finished paintings for our final crit. I asked her to post pone the crit until May 7^th because I physically do not have enough time this week to finish those. By the end of next week, I will have decent chunks of Wednesday and Thursday to spend on them. Last Friday, I started two small paintings instead of just one and didn’t even remotely come close to finishing either. I took a look at them today and see a correction I have to make already. At the same time, I was trying to edit some of my other works. To be honest, I don’t think I’m capable of actually finishing a painting: something is always going to need work. So, I’m just going to spend tomorrow and those two days trying things out and seeing where I go. That’s all I can do. Who knows, if I push myself I might be able to do it.

Western Art II:

            Class was canceled Tuesday. This was good and bad for me. It was good because then I got a decent night’s sleep. It was bad because the paper that was due that morning was completed, but I didn’t have my presentation for social ethics done. Still, it got my last Museum trip paper out of the way, so it’s one less thing to worry about. I also got my flash cards done because I thought Perla and I would be studying after class. Both of us couldn’t keep the arrangement, but have receduled for after the drawing crit.

I’ve also managed to start a very, very very rough draft of my research paper. Today, I confirmed that it is due on the 10^th. Afsan also said it was okay to use five artworks instead of just three to get a better understanding how my theme has fluctuated chromatically, but it can still only be seven pages max. Usually I’m verbose, so I’ll have to be more concise with what I have to say. She also said I can use the same painting that I previously used for one of my museum papers. The plan is to have the research paper completed by the day of the final so I don’t have to worry about it later. We’ll see if I can stick to this.

English Literature:

            It took me seven drafts to get my Rushdie essay completely right, and even then I forgot to put a title on it. It reads better than my Wordsworth paper, so I’m hopeful I’ll get a better grade on it. The more drafts I did, the more I understood the mechanics of the story, so I feel better off anyway. We also have our final exam on Monday, so I have to re-read about two hundred pages for that. He told us which texts will be on the test, but it ended up being about twenty different short stories. I’ll be re-reading this along with looking more my notes again. Honestly, it’s not as bad as it sounds: I remember a lot of what I read so it will probably be more like skimming.  It’s also better than going over everything we covered over the entire year. I’ve also made arrangement to study with Katia in my English class about a half hour before hand.

Social Ethics:

            I completely botched my presentation on Tuesday. Having stayed up the night before to finish my history paper and complete flash cards, I didn’t have much time to prepare for it; too many other things were going on. I failed to construct a speech and decided improve would be better. That was a bad decision.  So, yes, after reading six different articles, making a presentation, making flash cards, I got up there and suffered stage fright and stuttered through the entire stupid thing. Normally, I’d just complete an extra credit assignment to supplement, but that would mean yet another paper and I don’t the time or the energy to even attempt that right now. Out of the seven, I have three left, and the research paper is going to nuke my brain alone with six or seven drafts. On top of that, I have to at least skim all of the stories we’ve read in English and all of the homework assignments for Social Ethics to prepare for both finals on Monday and Tuesday.

Apartment Hunting: On top of everything else, I think my roommate and I finally found a place. Maybe. I’ve asked my parents to sanity check me today by looking at it. The building unfortunately allows cats, and that isn’t good for my roommate’s severe allergies. There were three in the room when we checked it out, so she couldn’t even walk in. I felt bad because the lay out was completely gorgeous. Even better, there’s a laundry mat in the same building, it’s not near a highway, and it’s fairly close to a supermarket. The only bad things are that it’s on the fourth floor and the elevator is incredibly small (four of us pretty much filled the thing), so moving in would be incredibly difficult, and the cats/pets issue. My roommate is under a time constraint, so I feel like she’s settling because this is the only apartment that I’ve liked. I don’t want her to settle, so the plan is to check out the layout of the apartment above it layout so she can get a feel for the space. The realtor wanted this to happen today, but my roommate couldn’t do it, so hopefully we’ll both go Monday before she leaves for home.

Summer classes: I’m only taking the Chem class because the English wasn’t what I needed and the Art on the Silk Road doesn’t have enough people to proceed. I haven’t taken summer classes before, so this is probably for the best. They are much shorter and more intense than the fall and spring classes because there isn’t much time. Still, I also managed to get twenty hours a week working at the library, so I’m still happy with the arrangement. I start directly after the end of finals week, but I have the weekend to go home and celebrate before I come back.